Jerusalem
demolition orders could spark new violence, warns PA ministerBy Amira HassHa'aretz Palestinian Affairs Correspondent
Between the start of the year and March 22, Jerusalem Municipality issued 21
orders to destroy buildings erected without permits in the city. Two of the
condemned structures are on Givat Shaul, in West Jerusalem and the rest are in
the east part of the city and the owners are Palestinians.

"If the Jerusalem municipality carries out the orders it issued recently
to raze the structures, it spark the outbreak of demonstrations and acts of
opposition by the Palestinian public in East Jerusalem," warned Faisal
Husseini, Jerusalem Minister in the Palestinian Authority.

Most of the orders were issued in March.

These are administrative orders, enabling the municipal authorities to carry
out the demolitions within 30 days of the document's delivery to the family,
and without the involvement of any legal process.

According to the Meretz representative on the municipal council, Meir Margalit,
the municipality is planning to execute a number of the orders tomorrow and
demolish five homes in Um Tuva.

The Jerusalem Municipality spokesman has, however, denied any plans to carry
out the demolition orders in the near future in an interview to Army Radio.

Husseini says that "while the first spark to the current Intifada was
caused in Jerusalem, during the majority of the months of the Intifada, there
has been relative calm in the city and that is thanks to the fact that the
Israeli authorities avoided carrying out provocative actions."

Husseini says that the return of the demolition policy suggests a return to
"provocative actions."

The Palestinian minister emphasizes that neither the Jerusalem municipality,
nor the Israeli state have ended their discriminatory policies in granting
Palestinians with building permits.

According to sources at the Orient House, which effectively acts as the nerve
center of Palestinian Authority representation in the capital, the plans to
raze the homes are meant to prevent the families who built them from entering a
long legal battle with the municipal authority.

The five homes at Um Tuva are strategically situated on the planned eastern
ring road of the capital. If they are destroyed soon, the construction of the
road can go ahead, while any delay may result in a legal clash which may put
off plans for the ring road.

The other Palestinian homes on line for demolition are situated in Bet Hanina,
Shuafat, Ras al-Amud, Tzur Bahar, Wadi Juz and Abu Tur.

One of the homes scheduled for demolition, belonging to the Akl family, and
situated on French Hill, was postponed by the Jerusalem District Court,
"pending a different decision."

The family demolished their old home on the site, a decade ago, and built a new
home. They were not aware that the Jerusalem municipality required that they
file for a new permit to build a new home over an old one.

The location of the Akl family's home resulted from a relocation which occurred
following 1948 from their village of Lifta.

The family property was confiscated in 1967. Among other structures built
there, the Hebrew University built some of its student dormitories, and the
Hyatt hotel.

A demolition order was issued in May, last year, and the family has been
involved in a legal battle since. They are convinced that the University is
behind the push to drive them out, even though University sources informed the
family attorneys that it has given up on the property.